Measuring Software Value Using a Team Health Assessment

Software development is a team effort. Agile software development, in particular, depends on a high level of communication between team members. In order to be able to improve the business value they are delivering, it is important that the software development teams conduct regular self-assessments. By taking the time to conduct an in-depth assessment of the key areas that impact team performance and health, an organization can make modifications to their processes to enable continual improvement that can lead to increased business value.

In Agile, teams typically rely on sprint retrospectives to analyze their performance for continuous improvement. The challenge is that these events are team- and sprint-specific and often become wasteful ceremonies in that they don’t add any new value.

It is common for the team to reach a point where they have discussed and fixed the things they can fix and the things they can’t fix require organizational intervention, which is outside their span of control. It is easy – and probably correct – for teams in this situation to conclude that sprint retrospectives should be abandoned because, from a lean perspective, they are not adding value and so represent waste to be removed.

Over the years, our team has leveraged the AgilityHealth℠ Radar (AHR) TeamHealth Assessment as an event to review team dynamics on a quarterly basis. This structured, facilitated event is an opportunity for a more strategic review than the sprint retrospective typically allows..

There are five vital areas that can impact the health of an Agile team: Clarity, Performance, Leadership, Culture, and Foundation. Each should be carefully evaluated to help the team identify their strengths, areas of improvements and top impediments to growth. From there, a growth plan outlining the target outcomes for the following few months can be developed.

The true value of an assessment like this comes from the open and honest conversations that take place enabling the team to evaluate their performance and outcomes and continually improve their processes for the future.

Does your software development team regularly assess the team’s performance and make adjustments for future growth? If so, is there a specific methodology your organization uses?